Dear Shareholder,
As you know, your Company and its management are dedicated to extending the boundaries at which medicine and genetics cross. We have made meaningful and substantive contributions in this arena and we hope to expand on our results in the future.
As a small company operating at the edge of new science, however, we have had a difficult time raising capital from traditional sources. These difficulties have occurred despite the established credentials of senior management, our existing genomics products, ongoing research and development and the positive results we have produced in the forensic investigation market. Management is aware of criticism relating to financing via convertible credit lines, and as major shareholders we too are pained by the accompanying dilution in share value. We are, of course, continuing to pursue alternative approaches to funding.
The fact remains, however, that we have identified large market demand for products and services in areas for which our past experience and existing technology and research provide significant market opportunities. Our current financing approach provides up to $35MM to help us realize our goals. We believe that despite the accompanying dilution, the potential reward of creating a large and profitable company justifies our financing decision. As importantly, we believe that as we use these funds and demonstrate revenue growth; more traditional capital funding may become available.
The Company’s accomplishments of the past two years deserve some review so that you have a well-rounded understanding of where DNAPrint now stands and where we are heading.
We have reorganized and restructured our capital base and have acquired up to $35 million to help us build the Company and add shareholder value. During the last several months we acquired Trace Genetics of San Francisco, Calif., and we have begun integrating its products and services into the DNAPrint family. Recently, we acquired an 18% stake in the German pharmaceutical company Biofrontera AG, and hope to use this platform for the benefit of our existing research and products. Of course, we continue to look for favorable acquisitions targets to bring both research synergy and revenues to our Company.
In the last two years, we have also introduced several new products to market. DNAWitness™ now is or has been utilized in nearly 100 criminal cases, including Scotland Yard’s Minstead Serial Rapist; the Louisiana Serial Killer, a highly-publicized rape and murder case in Concord, Calif.; the Mammoth Lakes Murder, as well as several missing person identifications and a number of other cases that we are currently unable to discuss due to confidentiality constraints. Additionally, we introduced RETINOME™, the first test ever to determine human eye color from DNA samples.
On our Consumer products side, we upgraded AncestryByDNA™ to 176 markers from 71 and introduced our new EuroDNA™ 1.0. The latter test enables us to tell a user whose heritage is greater than 50% Indo-European how much of their ancestry is Northwest European, Southern European, Middle Eastern and South Asian.
Even more exciting is our first licensing opportunity from Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital in Boston Massachusetts, a Harvard affiliate for a novel therapeutic for the treatment of chronic kidney failure usually associated with advanced diabetes as well as many other diseases. Our new technology, PT-401 is a dimer of Erythropoietin (EPO) that early laboratory work indicates has a longer half-life (used to measure drug metabolism in the blood in treating anemia) at considerably lower dosages. Thus, a patient receiving multiple injections of EPO per month may see that injection rate drop dramatically. We will also monitor patients receiving regular EPO and our PT-401 once this technology advances through the clinical development process. We are seeking additional licensing opportunities in the pharmaceutical area as well. Our targets are later stage drugs that we may be able to partner as well as early pipeline opportunities that we are able to mature ourselves or in conjunction with our future partners.
You may have seen the recent press release in which we announced our new web site and new corporate image. I hope that you will take the time to review the web site (www.dnaprint.com), which provides a great deal of information about the Company. You may also order an AncestryByDNA test by clicking on (www.ancestrybydna.com). We have a sincere desire to communicate with our shareholders and to be as responsive as possible to your questions and requests. We will continue to reach out to our shareholders in order to provide you meaningful updates on the Company’s activities.
I thank you for your continued support and interest in DNAPrint genomics, Inc.
Company Contact:
Richard Gabriel
CEO and President
941 366-3400
-or-
Ron Stabiner
The Wall Street Group, Inc.
212-888-4848